When The Game Shuts Down
by Coooool123
Summary: One-shot. Everyone thinks they know what the world of Mario is like. But what happens when the game shuts down? How do the characters really feel about each other?


When the game shuts down

Four casual female gamers sat around a living room, Wiimotes in hand, playing a game of New Super Mario Brothers Wii. The girls were currently in the process of defeating Ludwig Von Koopa. After this, they were going to sojourn outside to do some quading. The room was filled with shouting, mostly by the first player.

"Come on, come on… almost got it!"

"Bubble! Bubble! BUBBLE!"

"AAAAAAH!"

"Get out of the WAAAAY!"

Ludwig was soon defeated, and the four characters on screen did their signature poses once Luigi had claimed the key. The game saved itself, the characters rushed off to Bowser's land, and they shut off the Wii.

"Man that was intense!" the second player laughed.

"I kept getting hit," the third one whined.

"You know, I wonder what happens to the characters when we turn off the game…" the first speculated.

"You and your fantasies," the fourth teased, "Now come on. Let's go outside for once. And don't let the dog out!"

As they exited the house, the Wii shook a tiny bit, and the world of Super Mario began to activate inside of the disc.

"…are they gone…?"

"Well it's not-a like it would-a matter, if the-a console is-a off."

"I died soooo many times…"

"Oh… mama mia! That was-a so incredibly-a terrifying!"

The scene shifts to the inside of the game. Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, and Yellow Toad all stand at the entrance to Darkland. Mario begins to head back to World Seven, and enters the castle that they had just defeated. Luigi stood behind him, shaking, as Blue Toad looked like he couldn't care less, and Yellow Toad continued to whine about his death count.

Unlike what most thought of the world of Super Mario, things were a little different when the game shut off and when no one was around. It was a world where Mario and Bowser were best friends, Luigi was terrified of everything around him, and Peach was a total snob who despised Mario to no end. The red-clad plumber was greatly amused by the scripts the programming laid out for them, especially when Peach was forced to kiss Mario, over, and over, and over again. It gave him great satisfaction to see the faint trace of immense disgust in her eyes that the players couldn't see no matter how hard they tried. Of course, she did have a habit of getting revenge, if the first three Mario Parties amounted to anything, as well as the numerous karting and sporting events they participated in. Not to mention Super Smash Brothers tournaments… those were a nightmare…

Luigi hated being a part of this. True, he was nervous on camera, but not nearly as much as he was when no game was on. Luigi's mansion had been a reveal of is true, pure terror, and being on his own in a game completely terrified him more than any ghost or boss ever could. The year of Luigi didn't help any.

"Ludwig! Are you-a alright?"

"Yes, of course. I am perfectly fine."

The German-accented Koopaling hoped out of the small pit that he had fallen in to.

"That-a was a great battle!" Mario praised the young one, "You're flutter-a jumps were flawless, and-a your heat-a seeking fire was-a really accurate!"

"Zank you, Uncle Mario," Ludwig nodded in appreciation.

Mario put a happy hand onto his shoulder, and Ludwig smiled warmly at him. A small frown started to take over his happy demeanor, however.

"I-a really wish that Nintendo wouldn't-a pit me against-a you all. I don't-a like fighting my-a best friend's kids."

"You and-a me both…" Luigi shuddered, looking fearfully in the direction of Darkland, "I-a get so nervous…"

"But you have been better on-camera zhan previously," Ludwig pointed out, "Your courage has been greatly intensified from zince you began assisting Mario. Especially are you courageous in ze Luigi's Mansion games."

"You-a should have-a seen his first practice session of Dark Moon," Mario sighed, "It took-a us two hours to find him, two more-a hours to convince him to take the first shoot, and he-a nearly fainted before we could-a even start."

"It was-a way scarier than-a the first-a mansion! Plus E-a Gad's getting more-a senile!"

"Vell, zese zings happen. But you vill be fine."

A familiar helicopter noise interrupted their conversation, and an even more familiar copter came into view.

"Bwahahaha!"

A huge grin split Mario's face. "Bowser!"

"Hey, Red!" Bowser grinned, waving, as the copter flew into the room and landed on the floor of the castle. Bowser jumped out with ease as Ludwig approached his father.

"Greetings, fazzur," he nodded, looking up at him.

"Hey, sport," Bowser smiled kindly, ruffling his hair, which caused the Koopaling to growl a little bit in irritation. He hated anyone touching his deep blue locks, even if it was his father. Ludwig pushed his hand away, and attempted to climb into the clown copter. He ungracefully fell off, onto his tail. Undaunted, he used a flutter jump to get to the top of the transport, and managed to grab onto the edge, where he hung for a few seconds, attempting to get inside, before Bowser nudged him and he tumbled into the ride. His head reappeared seconds later, unamused.

Mario couldn't help but laugh a little at the two of them. Bowser turned to the plumber and let out an awkward cough.

"I, uh, need your help, Red," he confessed, "My Mega Mushroom supply is running low. I have enough for the initial battle, but I might need more in case something goes wrong with Kamek's spell after you dump me into the pit."

"No-a problem," he nodded, digging into his pockets and pulling out a large canister, "I-a thought this could-a happen, so I-a brought this along."

Bowser gratefully accepted the canister. "Ah, you're the best, Red. I owe ya own." He turned to Luigi. "So… I never got to ask. How'd your Dark Moon scenes go, Green?"

"Awful," Luigi murmured, looking down at his feet.

"Aw, I'm sure they were fine," Bowser nodded, "You worry too much, Luigi!"

"That's-a what I tell him," Mario shrugged, "He doesn't-a listen."

"It freaks-a me out!" Luigi retorted, folding his arms in a huff.

"Hey, you guys wanna come to the castle later and play some video games?" Bowser questioned. "We're supposed to go through the Mario Kart 8 tracks. They've already given us bases of the racers, and they want us to debug some of the tracks."

"Sounds cool!" Mario nodded. "Be good to stay away from Peach too, since we're forced to be stuck together in a balloon for 8 worlds."

"Yikes. Sounds painful."

"Yeah. All you get is her just whining and complaining. Honestly, it's a treat when you kidnap her."

"Well it's not like I have a choice," Bowser muttered, "I don't want the idiot. I'd rather snag Daisy or Rosalina. Firebar's at least willing to do stuff with me and the kids – she's a crazy good gamer – and Space Queen actually acts like a proper princess, even if she doesn't always get everything 'cuz she's always up in… well… space."

"But we-a don't really have-a much of a choice," Mario replied, a bit sadly, "If it were-a up to-a me, I would get us to tag team against-a Peach."

"Oh man that'd be so awesome," Bowser chuckled, grinning widely, "And we could call up the Wah bros. Who, by the way, are super-miffed that they got gipped for the Toads."

"Hey, don't blame us," Blue Toad drawled, "I _said_ it was a dumb idea not to include them."

"I'd be fine with whatever," Yellow Toad shrugged, "I don't mind playing, I just hate dying so much."

"How're they-a doing, anyway?" Mario questioned.

"Wario's fine, in his gaming industry," Bowser answered, "And Waluigi's been taking care of the kids. When he's not, he's usually just relaxing and working behind the scenes with Toadette, Diddy Kong, and Daisy."

"They're pretty good friends, aren't they?" Luigi spoke up a bit shakily.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Bowser nodded in approval, "The kids love him too."

"They're getting really good since the bros last fought them, haven't they?" Yellow Toad grinned.

Mario nodded. "We've-a trained a lot with-a them. They've-a greatly improved!"

"They all okay?" Blue Toad wanted to know, "I don't get to see 'em often."

Ludwig took the parole now, placing his arms on the rim of the copter and resting his chin on them. "As vell as zey can be, given ze circumstances," he sighed, "Lemmy's been getting very irritated lately, as he is forced to be portrayed as idiotic. It's also not very amusing to have one's eyes readjusted every time von must battle. He vishes also to battle you all later as vell, as ve had ze first time."

"He's always had the circus ball though, right?"

"Of course. He utterly refused to fight vithout it. Honestly I zink it's von of ze few zings zhat keeps him content anymore." Ludwig glanced out off to the left, where Bowser's castle loomed off in the distance. "Roy's been more distant zhan ever, and argues vith everyvon. He goes off ze handle for the simplest things."

"He's-a not taking the loss of his-a rabbit very well, is-a he?" Mario murmured.

"No. He used to be pretty docile," Ludwig explained to the toads, "His rabbit was the only zing zhat he vas able to communicate vith – ze only zing keeping him calm. So vhen it ran avay he vas devastated as he couldn't express himself to any of us. And now…" Ludwig shook his head. "Every day he blows up. I vorry zhat von day he vill do somezing ve vill all regret."

"Why can't he just get a new rabbit?" Yellow Toad argued, "Or find the old one?"

"Nintendo prefers him angry," Ludwig confessed, "So zhey did not permit it."

"It's the opposite for Iggy," Bowser spoke up, his fists visibly clenching, "He SHOULD be calm and relaxed. But the pills they make him take to be eccentric are messing with him. Another reason why Lemmy's angry."

"But Kamek can fix him, can't he?"

"He does," Ludwig explained, "But ve are concerned zhat zere vill soon be unrepairable damage. Ve are considering making a clone of Ignatius and getting zhat clone to fight instead."

"C-could you d-do that for me?" Luigi begged, eyes wide with hope.

Bowser shook his head. "We're already going to risk it with Iggy. But continuing on, Wendy's as angry as ever. She absolutely hates being bald. Nothing new there."

"I can imagine," Yellow Toad murmured, pulling at his cap self-consciously.

"Morton's been very sick as of late," Ludwig went on, "He's barely managing to battle anymore."

Mario nodded. "We-a noticed."

"Why, what's wrong with him?" Blue Toad asked with wide eyes.

"Overworked," Bowser answered, "He's always had a poor immune system. But his lungs are still as strong as ever, and he's still smiling despite it all."

"Larry's been angry as vell. He's bitter and as qviet, more so zhan usual. He'll only speak to his plants most of ze time. At least he has an out, unlike Roy."

"Lud's just trying to keep everyone together!" Bowser ruffled his eldest son's hair proudly, causing him to squawk and fall back into the clown copter unceremoniously. "And Junior's been as happy as ever. He's excited to see you all and show you his moves!"

Mario smirked. "Well hopefully we-a won't have to wait-a long. Whoever was-a player one-a certainly powered-a through! So I-a doubt we'll have to hold-a it off!"

"Yeah, I should get Lud back to the castle," Bowser looked back at the clown car. "Waluigi's probably getting clobbered."

Mario nodded. "I'll try and-a get Yoshi to-a help us with-a the testing."

"Wasn't he playing DJ later?"

"Nah. Got cancelled. And I guarantee he'll-a wanna get away from-a Birdo. You know how much of a drama queen she is."

Bowser shuddered. "Don't remind me. And while I round up Daisy and the Wah bros, you might as well call up DK if you get the chance."

Mario winced. "You know I don't-a like how loud and-a 'gangster' he thinks he is."

"Hey he's a good guy," Bowser defended, "He's just gotta stop hanging out with Petey, Funky Kong, and Dry me. Those morons don't even realize how stupid they are."

The red-clad brother laughed. "You-a said it. But I'll-a see you-a later. Don't-a forget those-a mega mushrooms!"

Bowser fished the canister out of his shell. "Got 'em right here. See ya, dude!" Bowser hopped into the clown copter, and he and Ludwig flew off, with the Koopa King letting out a hearty evil laugh.

The heroes all waved as the Koopa King flew off to his fortress.

"Man… one of these days we're gonna convince Nintendo to let us be ourselves," Blue Toad muttered.

"O-or get them to-a stop p-putting me in-a so many-a games…" Luigi added weakly.

"You know that'll never happen," Yellow Toad rolled his eyes. "You're too popular."

"Just-a let them-a think what they-a want," Mario replied firmly, leading the way back to World 8 as they felt the Wii power up again. "One of-a these days… we'll-a all get-a our chance to show-a the world what we're-a _really_ like!"


End file.
